Pope John VIII

Pope John VIII (816-16 December 882) was Pope from 872 to 882, succeeding Pope Adrian II and preceding Pope Marinus I.

Biography
Pope John VIII was born in 816 AD in Rome, and as a young man he witnessed the sack of Rome by the Arabs in 846 AD. In 872 AD he was consecrated as pope, and he reformed the papal curia. He sought the aid of Charles the Bald and Boso of Provence against the Saracens, but they refused, so he had to pay tribute money to the Emirate of Sicily. He hated the Muslims, as they made some alliances with Christian rulers, and whenever he called for allies in the fight against the Arabs, they believed that his pleas were just excuses for extending papal authority into southern Italy. In 877 he formed an alliance between Salerna, Capua, Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi against the Muslims, and in 878 he crowned Louis the Stammerer and annointed Charles the Fat and Charles the Bald.

Due to his exhaustion of the papal treasury, his lack of support among the Franks, his inability to deal with the Muslims, and his stance with the Byzantine Empire led to unpopularity. On 16 December 882 Pope John VIII was assassinated, the first pope to be murdered (not counting those who were martyred during the persecution of Christianity by the Roman Empire).